What is a racist?

[Gordon Nore]

Recent posts here and elsewhere have asked the question, Is s/he a racist?

Ralph Nader recently used an Uncle Tom metaphor in discussing Barack Obama's voting record and campaign finances. http://martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69215 and http://martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69330

Matt Hughes was photographed holding a White Boy's T-Shirt. http://martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69331

...and so on...

My questions: What is a racist? Since just about nobody wants to be seen as racist and, I would suspect, a vast majority of people don't see themselves that way, is it productive to call someone a racist? I think many of us can agree when the line has been crossed, but where is the line. Is it more important to identify racists than it is to identify racism?

 

[JadecloudAlchemist]

Racism:

1.a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.2.a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.3.hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.

The line is crossed when You believe any of the above as truth.

This is interesting:

1932 as a noun, 1938 as an adjective, from race (n.2); racism is first attested 1936 (from Fr. racisme, 1935), originally in the context of Nazi theories. But they replaced earlier words, racialism (1907) and racialist (1917), both often used at first in a British or South African context.

Is it more important to identify racists than it is to identify racism?

I think it is more important to indentify racism because the defination can be the standard of what we use to identify racist.

 

[Sukerkin]

The term has somewhat lost it's meaning over the frenetic past few decades, particularly as it is used as an effective 'cheap shot', by anyone perceived as a minority, as an almost guaranteed argument winner.

What people tend to forget in these politically correct times, is that everyone is genetically predisposed to be a racist in the true sense of the term. This differs from the dictionary definition in subtle ways but essentially we are all programmed by our genes to 'prefer' our own race. It comes from our tribal roots where anyone 'not us' was a potential danger.

Where the danger in that attitude lies in modern times, as JCA noted above, is when one race sees itself superior to all others and seeks to rule over them on grounds of race alone. That, I hope, has largely disappeared in the First World (now there's an '-ism' all of it's own) but it still exists elsewhere. Ironically enough Africa is probably the worst offender in this regard. The tribal divisions there have given rise to horrendous slaughter that is shameful for us all as a species supposedly so far along in our development.

 

[MA-Caver]

Had an interesting (3 way) conversation today with my father and a mutual friend of ours. My dad was proudly extolling upon my virtues (which I hate him doing... like geez dad, knock it off will ya??) and said that he would never "disown me, his beloved son"... I told him (and our friend) that he needs to be reminded of the "threat of disowning me, should he ever hear that I've kissed a black girl".... (which I've done... happily and pleasantly btw-- she was a good kisser :fanboy: ), my dad went on the tangent of saying that he had a reason for doing that...
prevent confusion between the offspring of such a union
different birds don't mate together
it would cause "problems" later on (dunno what ... it wasn't elaborated at that moment)
that horses don't mate with cows... to which I asked my dad... would a white horse mate with a black horse?? he laughed and said well... that's different they're the same "race" (I'm guessing he meant species) ... I then asked him... well are black people human?? Am I human?? the subject got tactfully changed all of the sudden...

I've known this about my father for years... but consider him I guess... a good natured racist, meaning that oh he likes black people and other races just doesn't agree with the idea of mixing them up.

But I agree with the definition that being racist is thinking any others are inferior to your own or beneath your own or not worth associating with or not trustworthy simply on the basis of their skin-color and sometimes heritage.

I've a friend whom I've spoke of before who married a (lovely) black woman he met during his mission for the LDS church. They've 3 beautiful children and are very happy together after 7 years of marriage (so far). I never saw a problem with it.

I used to use the "n" word during my youth as both a casual reference to the person or as a slur, but learned over time that the color of the man's skin didn't necessarily meant he was going to be good/bad for me. I learned as Dr. King said, a person should be judged on "the content of their character..." I outgrew my racist thinking which I realized (and was reminded of today) came from my father who got it from his oldest brother who got it from their father who got it from his father and that went back all the way to whomever came over on the boat and bought slaves to *ahem* help out around the farm.

Racism in my opinion is a point of view and it's as varied as the person holding them. True, they may be shared but it's still how they choose to look at it. It's also a inscribed trait taught by parents of children who grow up to be racist.
Racism is nothing more than a form of hatred and it's perfectly illustrated (I think so anyway) in the movie "American History X "

It's something we all can and should do without. The contribution of non-whites in this country and the rest of the world have been startling significant.

Hawkeye: "...you ever hear of Dr. Charles Drew soldier? He invented the process of seperating blood cells"
Trapper: "plasma"
Hawkeye: "he died as a result of a car accident"
Trapper: "he bled to death"
Hawkeye: "the hospital wouldn't take him"
Trapper: "it was for whites only".
~episode of M*A*S*H dealing with a wounded soldier worried about getting the wrong "colored" blood.

 

[Big Don]

A racist is a person who thinks one race is superior or inferior to other races.
Example: White people who hate black people.
Example: Black people who hate Hispanic people.
Example: People who vote for someone because of his race
Example: People who blame "the Jews" for everything

 

[zeeberex]

Recent posts here and elsewhere have asked the question, Is s/he a racist?

Ralph Nader recently used an Uncle Tom metaphor in discussing Barack Obama's voting record and campaign finances. http://martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69215 and http://martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69330

Matt Hughes was photographed holding a White Boy's T-Shirt. http://martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=69331

...and so on...

My questions: What is a racist? Since just about nobody wants to be seen as racist and, I would suspect, a vast majority of people don't see themselves that way, is it productive to call someone a racist? I think many of us can agree when the line has been crossed, but where is the line. Is it more important to identify racists than it is to identify racism?

one who hates others, for reasons of being different

 

[punisher73]

Back from my college days in sociology, most of what has been described is being prejudiced.

Example, prejudice thinking would be that all purple people are criminals. To cross the line to be racist usually involves some type of action that discriminates against purple people. I think more people fall into pre-judging based on their experiences (not saying it's right). But, also while they may have those beliefs they don't actively go out and try to do harm based on those beliefs.

If you watch interviews with members of the NAACP they will tell you it is impossible for black people to be racist because they have no power with which to discriminate against others. I don't agree with that assessment at all. I have come across racist people all across the color spectrum, and to play a semantics game with it is just wrong.

I think that the term is used WAY to often. I usually see it thrown around that if you don't agree with a certain viewpoint or candidate than you must be a racist.

 

[Kacey]

Judging someone based on a characteristic over which the person has no control (race, familial history, country of origin, native language, birthplace, socioeconomic status as a child, etc.) is prejudice, and often confused with racial prejudice, or racism - racism refers, specifically, to judging someone based on their race:

2 a: a family, tribe, people, or nation belonging to the same stock b: a class or kind of people unified by shared interests, habits, or characteristics
3 a: an actually or potentially interbreeding group within a species ; also : a taxonomic category (as a subspecies) representing such a group b: breed c: a category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits

As you can see from the above definition, there is overlap between prejudice and racism - and I see the distinction between them to be meaningless, as they both result in the same negative actions, for the similarly logically meaningless but emotionally motivated reasons.

 

[Gordon Nore]

The term has somewhat lost it's meaning over the frenetic past few decades, particularly as it is used as an effective 'cheap shot', by anyone perceived as a minority, as an almost guaranteed argument winner...

I tend to agree. I suspect most people grow and harbour prejudices -- racial and otherwise -- in the course of socialization. I recall being very disturbed when my grade eight teacher, a Christian Brother (Roman Catholic), was sending us out to sell lottery tickets for a school fundraiser and cautioned us against scams by saying, "Don't let them Jew you." At the time I was so young and so isolated, I wasn't even aware of that of stereotype of Jewish people.

Still, not knowing the stereotype, the comment sounded distrubingly wrong, yet, it was probably a common remark from a man of his generation, born in the early 1900s, when Irish Roman Catholics were very much stigmatized themselves in my city. This brother remains in my memory as a very strong person of faith, a good man if you will, but that memory is tainted by his remarks.

Charges of racism, much like accusations of political correctness, are conversation enders. Is part of the problem that we attach a sense of morality to racist thoughts and words? Must a racist, or a person who says something racist, automatically be seen as a bad person?

 

[Xue Sheng]

Racism

And Racism has been perpetrated against every single race creed and color on the planet by every single race creed and color on the planet.